Next Year's Winners, According to the Charts

Some of the stock market's biggest recent losers are prime candidates to boost a portfolio early next year.

If this year's cycle of multimonth ups and downs continues into 2013, it follows that some of the most beaten-down stocks should have the best recoveries. Thus several of the worst performers since the market's most recent high-water mark in September are poised to outperform the market early in 2013.

There are two broad groups that are home to many of these candidates - technology and basic materials. From the former sector, Apple (ticker: AAPL) and a more comatose cousin such as Hewlett Packard (HPQ) may be what the...